← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · il ragno
Thread ID: 1363 | Posts: 117 | Started: 2002-06-20
2002-06-20 16:25 | User Profile
I notice Alex Linder's site is posting top-ten favorite-movie lists. Those I've seen listed -despite what you'd expect given the narrow ideological focus of most of VNN - are pretty eclectic and even surprising.
Or maybe it's not that surprising. Ask someone to assemble their ten favorite books, of course, and you'd probably get lists more closely mirroring the compiler's politics and biases, but movies are not books; even at their snootiest and most high-toned, they're still mass popular entertainment - thus I think everyone has at least a few favorites they'd feel awkward about, or look silly, defending. It's part of the fun of going to the movies. No matter what your opinion of Alex Linder is, you gotta admit you'd never expect him to be an ACE VENTURA, PET DETECTIVE fan!
So I thought it might be entertaining, possibly surprising and even revealing to see what some of you folks' Ten-Best lists might look like. (I haven't given mine sufficient thought yet, but in the words of WC Fields, "You go ahead and start without me.........I'll catch up with you.")
2002-06-20 17:36 | User Profile
These are in no particular order: The Godfather I, Platoon, East of Eden, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Apocalypse Now, Braveheart, The Warriors, 1492:Conquest of Paradise, Animal House, The Elephant Man. I qualified these pictures based on repeated viewings numbered somewhere between 10x-40x
2002-06-20 18:01 | User Profile
Off the top of my head:
The Black Robe, Jeremiah Johnson, The Apostle, Dune, Das Boot, Papillon, A Man Called Horse, Apocalypse Now, Honkytonk Man, Tender Mercies
No particular order here, except The Black Robe is probably my all-time favorite. Tough to come up with just ten as I know I'm leaving out numerous excellent films that have moved me in some way or another.
2002-06-20 18:57 | User Profile
*Outlaw Josey Wales Braveheart *
2002-06-20 19:54 | User Profile
No particular ranking here,
Farewell to the King Breaker Morant (a Bruce Beresford film, also did Black Robe) Ikuru, or any film by Akira Kurosawa for that matter. AI Lawrence of Arabia Dr. Zhivago Jin-Roh (An excellent piece of animé) The Razor's Edge (The Tyrone Powers version, not the one with Bill Murray) Gattaca Raising Arizona Stalingrad
Also, if you come across any Arabic films from before 1960, they're worth the rental fee. My mother-in-law gets Arabic TV through sattelity, and they play the movies with subtitles. These films have some of the richest storylines out there. Equal to anything put out by the US at the time, comedies or drama. Unfortunately, socialist governments took over and the quality began a sharp decline as the films became channels for propaganda. Every so often, though, you still catch a good one squeaking through the cracks.
Best, P
2002-06-20 20:10 | User Profile
Gattaca with Texan Ethan Hawke and British Jude Law??
2002-06-20 20:27 | User Profile
Though there are great movies made in every era, I tend to veer towards the vintage era of the 30s & 40s, and it saddens me that classic b&w and early-Technicolor pictures have become acquired tastes. Anyway - like everybody else, I've got too many to comfortably cut down to ten. But here are ten I love: *Maltese Falcon, 41 Mr Smith Goes To Washington, 39 The Grapes Of Wrath, 40 Love & Death, 75 The Bank Dick, 40 The Wages Of Fear, 53 Mean Streets, 72 Trouble In Paradise, 32 Where's Poppa? 70 Paths of Glory, 57 *
2002-06-20 20:31 | User Profile
Originally posted by Texas Dissident@Jun 20 2002, 20:10 Gattaca with Texan Ethan Hawke and British Jude Law??
That's the one. Great film. A real sleeper.
Best, P
2002-06-20 20:34 | User Profile
Originally posted by il ragno@Jun 20 2002, 20:27 **Though there are great movies made in every era, I tend to veer towards the vintage era of the 30s & 40s, and it saddens me that classic b&w and early-Technicolor pictures have become acquired tastes. **
That just reminded of another Henry Fonda picture: *FailSafe*.
Walter Matthau rendition of a neocon intellectual is perfect. It was based on Herman Kahn.
Best, P
2002-06-20 20:36 | User Profile
Originally posted by Polichinello@Jun 20 2002, 15:31 > Originally posted by Texas Dissident*@Jun 20 2002, 20:10 Gattaca with Texan Ethan Hawke and British Jude Law??*
That's the one. Great film. A real sleeper.
Best, P**
I did see that film, but I don't recall being impressed by it. But that's the thing about films, we appreciate them quite subjectively.
As to science fiction, I'll admit to liking Event Horizon with Sam Neill and Lawrence Fishburne quite a bit. Suspense, horror and intelligence all rolled into one package.
2002-06-20 20:41 | User Profile
Originally posted by AntiYuppie@Jun 20 2002, 15:34 Manhunter (underrated serial killer thriller, with Brian Cox as the first Hannibal Lecter with none of Hopkins's hammy, pretentious overacting that we saw in the sequels. Tom Noonan also makes the movie worth seeing)
You gotta like *Manhunter* if only for that Iron Butterfly "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" jam at the end.
2002-06-20 20:54 | User Profile
Originally posted by Texas Dissident@Jun 20 2002, 20:36 > Originally posted by Polichinello@Jun 20 2002, 15:31 > Originally posted by Texas Dissident*@Jun 20 2002, 20:10 Gattaca with Texan Ethan Hawke and British Jude Law??*
That's the one. Great film. A real sleeper.
Best, P**
I did see that film, but I don't recall being impressed by it. But that's the thing about films, we appreciate them quite subjectively.
As to science fiction, I'll admit to liking Event Horizon with Sam Neill and Lawrence Fishburne quite a bit. Suspense, horror and intelligence all rolled into one package.**
You know, *Event Horizon* got panned, but when I saw it, I really liked it.
I like Gattaca because it took a concept--gene manipulation--and created a world based on it becoming reality, and then let events play themselves out accordingly to make its point about human unpredictability.
I have the DVD, and the film could have devolved into a very preachy work (it was a bit preachy, BTW), but fortunately Andrew Niccol, the director pulled out a lot of the more overtly pedantic clips and saved them for the DVD.
Best, P
2002-06-20 20:58 | User Profile
One more I HAVE to add, especially relevant these days: BRAZIL.
Hands down, the best movie of the 80s. A funhouse version of an Empire's War on Terrorism.
2002-06-20 21:13 | User Profile
Il Ragno,
If they ever wished to make a theme movie for the "War on Terrorism," Id suggest they just re-release John Milius 1941 :lol:
Two favorites:
Sgt. York, Mr. Roberts
2002-06-20 23:08 | User Profile
Couldn't get down to 10 - sue me!
The Third Man The Best Years of our Lives (best antiwar film?) Yojimbo Cinema Paradiso Ice Cold in Alex 2001 Doctor Zhivago Jean de Florette/Manon Des Sources (counting as one) Nosferatu (the original 1920's one - creepy!) The Good, the bad & the Ugly The Big Blue Once Upon A Time In The West Les Miserables (1995 version) A night to remember
..and it might all change tomorrow.
I second these: Das Boot (was it a film? - I saw it as a great tv series) Manhunter Mean Streets Brazil (I really liked 'Baron Munchausen' too) Papillion
2002-06-20 23:21 | User Profile
Some of you may have seen my list over at VNN, but I've been kicking myself for not adding these:
Treasure of the Sierra Madre: "Badges? We don' need no steenkin' badges!"
Godfather I & II
The Bank Dick
The Terminator I & II
Das Boot
The Omen
Mac Arthur
Orson Welles' Othello
All My Sons
Double Indemnity
The Stranger - in spite of the overbearing jew preachiness
2002-06-20 23:44 | User Profile
Apocolypse Now Full Metal Jacket Excalibur Brady Bunch Movie Sleeping Beauty (the old Disney cartoon) Music Man Terminator Outlaw Josey Whales Monty Python's Life of Brian Monty Python and the Holy Grail
2002-06-21 00:43 | User Profile
I hope I don't keep logging on and adding titles, but this type topic can quickly turn into salted peanuts; every time I look down, my hand's in the jar.
But I gotta add STARSHIP TROOPERS. People either love it or hate it; I think it's Paul Verhoeven's best. There are so many layers of satire and irony at work that - like BRAZIL - you can watch it a dozen times and always be surprised by something you missed before. And no movie has come close to its painterly use of CGI. God knows what this puppy cost to make, but every dollar's on the screen. Even if it cost 100 mill (likely), it looks more like 500.
2002-06-21 01:43 | User Profile
2-10 (in no particular order):
Fellowship of the Ring Braveheart A Fish Called Wanda Man in the Iron Mask x-Men Dragonslayer Clash of the Titans (cheesy, yes, but it was about Greek mythology and that alone carries it) Any Given Sunday Save the Last Dance
2002-06-21 01:44 | User Profile
Just joking about the last entry! :D
2002-06-21 04:44 | User Profile
I haven't got a complete list of top ten favorite films of all time, but I would certainly include the following:
Birth of a Nation --- "writing history with lightning" and the movie which established the medium.
Triumph of the Will --- by far the best documentary and a stunning display of talent in use of camera angles and light patterns.
Gone with the Wind --- could not be made today, yet refuses to relegated to the memory hole. A "chick flick" in its examinations of "relationships", but a "guy flick" in its examination of the epic forces of history. While the portrayal of Scarlett gave the movie its force and direction, subsequent viewings brought deeper and more subtle insights into the characters of Rhett Butler and Mammy. Hell, I even got misty-eyed a few years back when I heard of the death of Butterfly McQueen (Prissy) in a tragic fire in her home.
Doctor Strangelove --- the masterpiece of the genre of film noir. The obits of its fine actors --- Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Slim Pickens, Kennan Wynn, and Sterling Hayden --- all counted this movie as among their finest roles.
Zulu --- one of the most perceptive war movies ever made. One of the best studies in racial contrasts as well.
Patton --- a great study of war through the study of one of military history's most fascinating and quixotic warrior generals against a very gritty and realistic backdrop of the times.
Clockwork Orange --- the nature of good and evil and the role of "free will" brilliantly examined.
Many other of the fine films mentioned above certainly rate consideration. I go back and forth on where exactly I would rate them. The test of time is essential to ranking a film among the greatest --- which puts more recent flicks at a disadvantage. To each his own, but the preceeding films are my "Magnificant Seven."
2002-06-21 04:56 | User Profile
Bzzzz, you're all wrong. The Top Ten movies of all time, according to gross:
1) Titanic 2) Star Wars 3) E.T. 4) Phantom Menace 5) Spider-Man 6) Jurassic Park 7) Forrest Gump 8) Harry Potter 9) The Lion King 10) The Fellowship of the Ring
Titanic wouldn't even make my top 1000 list.
2002-06-21 06:10 | User Profile
Happy Hacker:
I once saw a list that took inflation into account, it was very different. Gone with the wind and Snow White were at the top.
2002-06-21 06:11 | User Profile
Ten Films I like, in no particular order.
Birth of a nation
[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305130949/]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305130949/[/url]
The Green Berrets
[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6304696523/]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6304696523/[/url]
Gone with the Wind
[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004RF96/]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004RF96/[/url]
The Fellowship of the Ring
[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000067DNF/]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000067DNF/[/url]
Clash of the Titans
[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005JKO7/]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005JKO7/[/url]
Dune
[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0783226063/]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0783226063/[/url]
Jeremiah Johnson
[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6304696531/]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6304696531/[/url]
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6304698798/]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6304698798/[/url]
Persuasion
[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00003JRCQ/]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00003JRCQ/[/url]
I second these Films: ** Lawrence of Arabia A Man Called Horse Das Boot Apocalypse Now Zulu Harry Potter A Man Called Horse Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead The Great Race Interview with the Vampire Monty Python and the Holy Grail **
2002-06-21 07:57 | User Profile
Hey Faust,
Great to see another Jeremiah Johnson fan here.
Somethin' about that individual man vs. the savage wilderness theme I really love. Couple that with breathtaking scenery and you've got me hooked.
Mighty Merle captured it in song with "Turn me loose, set me free. Somewhere in the middle of Montana."
2002-06-22 00:15 | User Profile
How in the world can I get this list down to 10? I can't. What to choose?
--Gone With the Wind --Starship Troopers --Shakespeare in Love --Excalibur --Michael Collins --Pulp Fiction (or True Romance) --Braveheart --Fellowship of the Ring --Monty Python & the Holy Grail (or just about any Python/Gilliam Movie) --Fight Club --Dragonslayer --Princess Mononoke --Rob Roy --Interview with the Vampire --Goodfellas --the 13th Warrior
I know that's more than 10. I also like Hitchcock (esp. Rear Window and To Catch a Thief) and Cary Grant (Arsenic and Old Lace, Topper) and if you haven't seen it, rent Buster Keaton in the 1927 movie "The General", amazing. I like Andy Hardy films. I like "Triumph of the Will" and "Birth of a Nation" though you have to really be in the mood for a silent movie. Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" is good. For unPC, see Bronson's "Death Wish II" or "Just Cause" with Sean Connery. Renditions of London's "Iron Will", "Call of the Wild" or "White Fang". Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan, Planet of the Apes (original), "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" is fantastic. The 1988 movie The Navigator is good. I like "Back to the Future" "Clash of the Titans" and also "The Great Race." I'm not holding my breath that they'll make a movie of "The Iron Dream" anytime soon but I am eager for "The Two Towers". Of course I can't forget "A Clockwork Orange", I also recommend the book which ends a little differently than the movie.
And because someone brought it up, here's the Top 10 of All Time Movies (adjusted for inflation):
1 Gone With the Wind MGM $1,156,206,209 1939 2 Star Wars Fox $1,034,082,490 1977 3 The Sound of Music Fox $857,529,698 1965 4 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Uni. $831,167,907 1982 5 The Ten Commandments Par. $766,838,626 1956 6 Jaws Uni. $749,738,814 1975 7 Titanic Par. $731,450,012 1997 8 Doctor Zhivago MGM $708,813,451 1965 9 The Jungle Book Dis. $634,070,021 1967 10 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Dis. $622,390,000 1937
2002-06-22 00:27 | User Profile
Texas Dissident:
I love the wooded mountains. It makes you want a .50 Hawken. :)
Hawken Picture: [url=http://a1380.g.akamai.net/v/1380/1339/6h/www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/content/Item/21/00/42/i210042hz01.jpg]http://a1380.g.akamai.net/v/1380/1339/6h/w...i210042hz01.jpg[/url]
2002-06-22 00:29 | User Profile
Feric Jaggar:
Thanks for list of Top 10 of All Time Movies (adjusted for inflation).
2002-06-22 03:45 | User Profile
I love Excalibur, too - Cherie Lunghi was absolutely adorable as Guinevere. And Jeremiah Johnson is great as well, for the reasons already mentioned. I saw The General - Buster Keaton could definately show Jackie Chan a thing or two. Dragonslayer is an outstanding sword & sorcery film. Funny how the guy who played the young hero ended up looking like a jew. Hell, he probably is one.
I've never seen Birth of a Nation or Der Ewige Jude, and only clips of The Triumph of the Will. It's past time to rectify that situation.
Damn, this is one addictive topic.....
:rolleyes:
2002-06-22 04:41 | User Profile
N.B. Forrest:
You have got to see Birth of a nation. It is the best Civil War Film! The Book is better (The Clansman)
The story is Great! Lillian Gish is so Beautiful!
Birth of a nation
[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305130949/]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305130949/[/url]
from amazon.com
A brave and prophetic work, August 15, 2001 Reviewer: thechosen_1 (see more about me)
"The film is a brilliant masterpiece. While most silent films that we see on TV are of the silly comedic type, this is probably the only silent film that I can watch and enjoy. I am moved by the battle scenes and the love stories--the music can move you to tears. This is probably my favorite war movie of all time, it is even better than "All Quiet on the Western Front" and "Das Boot".
As for the pablum-eating meally-mouthed PC types who criticize the second act for its virulent "racism"; I don't know how accurate is this film's portrayal of the post-war South. But it is quite possible that the radical Republicans of the North could have imposed stringent voting laws in South Carolina (which had a 45% black population at the time) that favored Blacks thus electing a Black majority in their legislature at the time. If you look at this film's portrayal of majority Black rule, it is not that far removed from today's Zimbabwe or post-apartheid South Africa. The only thing different today from back then is that Whites then were not continually brainwashed with self-hatred as they are by today's "media". --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition."
A silent film with a loud message, June 19, 2001 Reviewer: Noctem (see more about me) from down the street "It's been said before and it needs to be said again: this is the film that turned movies from cheap thrill into art. Although the film displays admirable anti-war sentiments, the violence utilized by the Klan in the second half of the picture is what gets under the skin of the politically corrected. It seems that by showing the grievous results of war, Griffith is not so much mourning the losses of a regrettable and avoidable conflict as he is indicting the Northern war of aggression against Southern Independence. However, the obvious technical achievements in The Birth of a Nation transcend ideology. Its pioneering technical work, often the work of Griffith's under-rated cameraman Billy Bitzer, includes the special use of subtitles graphically verbalizing imagery, the introduction of night photography (using magnesium flares), the use of outdoor natural landscapes as backgrounds, the definitive usage of the still-shot, the technique of the camera "iris" effect (expanding or contracting circular masks to either reveal and open up a scene, or close down and conceal a part of an image), as well as many other techinques that are now standards in filmmaking. The fact that the film most likely increased enrollment in the Ku Klux Klan reveals the power that effective filmmaking can wield over a wide audience. This fact was not only picked up on by Lenin and other Communist swine, but has endured to this by those in the media and those in Hollywood. Either way, The Birth of a Nation is not only a part of film history, but it's the most important film in American screen evolution, possibly the world."
not for the politically correct, July 19, 2000 Reviewer: A viewer from North Alabama I bought this movie about ten years ago and found it to be entertaining for a silent movie.It's the story of two families(one Southern and the other Northern)and how the War Between The States affected them. Althought melodramatic and sappy in some spots,I think the over all gest of the movie was pretty accurate. That being that the yankees came,they saw,they conquered.And not being satistfied they sought revenge,using the newly freed slaves to do it. (To the reviewers that denounce this film for it's glorification of the Ku Klux Klan,remember this was not the klan of today.It was about the only vehicle Southern Whites had at the time to end the terroristic activities of the predominantly Negro "Union Leagues" and their Carpetbagger leaders.) If you want to see the closest thing to historical accuracy in a fictional story about the War and Reconstruction,watch this movie.If you feel more comfortable with politically correct fantasies I suggest you go watch "Roots".
An excellant documentary film!, May 23, 2000 Reviewer: Charles T. Neighbors. from Longmont, Colorado An excellant Documentary/Acting silent film. Great for knowing the history of the Civil War. May not be in todays words: 'political Correct', but an interesting film with great acting. I recommend this to any film history buffs!
Birth of a Nation, December 19, 1999 Reviewer: A viewer from USA A fine work of art,beautifully done and a good and accurate history lesson.
A great movie, despite controversial content, April 24, 1999 Reviewer: A viewer from New Jersey This is an exciting movie about the Civil War and its aftermath, and, of course, a landmark in film history. The controversy comes from the fact that the movie is told from the standpoint of a early 20th century white Southerner. Although some is it is actually extremely liberal given that viewpoint (Abe Lincoln is one of the movies heros, slavery is considered a great evil in American history), the depiction of Reconstruction does leave some uncomfortable images. Despite the cries of racism about this movie, the true villains of the post-Civil War section are depicted as the white and half-white northern carpetbaggers who dupe the blacks and take advatage of the whites.
2002-06-22 11:43 | User Profile
Griffith fans are directed to a great Brownlow/Gill documentary, DW GRIFFITH: FATHER OF FILM, about as exhaustive & illuminating a study of the father of modern film as you'll find. (Their doc on Buster Keaton - A HARD ACT TO FOLLOW - is just as good.)
Like a healthy number of the movies listed in this thread, both are aired from time to time on Turner Classic Movies - which, in a typical twist, is one of the few cable networks worth having, yet remains 'blacked out' throughout much of Israel West - ie, NYC.
2002-06-22 16:22 | User Profile
I seem to have lit a cross with my citation of "Birth of a Nation." The term "writing history with lightning" came from no less than President Woodrow Wilson. As he was born in Staunton, VA circa 1858 and was therefore a true "child of the Confederacy", he had some basis for knowing whereof he spoke. Tragically, he ended up in the Academe --- specifically Princeton --- and went on to become the Governor of New Jersey before becoming President. Thus he became what H. L. Mencken called the "Archangel Woodrow" and spouted all sorts of one world interventionist do-gooder notions. He apparently never lost touch with the Southern viewpoint about de War and Reconstruction. That he could not project it on the rest of the world is a profound case of disconnect.
The books and documentaries telling of the making of "Birth of a Nation" are essential to understanding just how profound a revolutionary work of art that picture was. I recommend them highly. I also recommend any of the documentaries about Leni Riefenstahl --- "The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl" is the only one that comes to mind. Like most stuff about Germany in World War II you have to step gingerly around the B.S. to glean some insights. Its the only way that you can learn about her genius for the camera angle, use of light, and editing skill.
2002-06-23 23:59 | User Profile
In no particular order:
The Outlaw Josey Wales Breaker Morant Godfather I From Russia with Love Dirty Harry The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly The Searchers Treasure of the Sierra Madre Planet of the Apes Touch of Evil
And I have not, nor will I ever see Titanic!
2002-06-24 07:52 | User Profile
Originally posted by Phillip Augustus@Jun 20 2002, 19:44 Just joking about the last entry! :D
Maybe I'm a sap, but how could you folks leave out:
Old Yeller: A child's introduction to the world, such as it is.
October Sky: Here's what that evil racist 50s America was like, outside of the megalopalises. Raise a glass to the coal miners, men of iron.
And a non-sappy nod to "State of Grace," the mick / Hell's Kitchen corollary to Cosa Nostra. Tough to romanticise those folks though.
Any film with Ed Norton- though I refuse to see that flick of his with Robin Williams, whom I detest.
And even to you Pagans, I would recommend "Song of Bernadette". Every one has their Cross[es] to bear. Bear yours with grace and humility.
2002-06-24 10:36 | User Profile
Campion, I'm glad you brought up STATE OF GRACE, as it gives me an opportunity to praise Gary Oldman...who's riveting in it as "Jackie Flannery".
In the decade since Oldman - IMO the best actor out there - came to Hollywood, he's slid down the graph from first-rate projects like GRACE & ROMEO IS BLEEDING to playing bog-standard villains in comic-book-drek like LOST IN SPACE & AIR FORCE ONE. Could never understand how such a great talent could be so utterly wasted by Hollywitz. Then came the brouhaha over THE CONTENDER, in which it was revealed Oldman has, if not rightist politics, certainly an antipathy to The Leftism Of Convenience that passes for politics in La La Land. That was the last time I've spotted his name in a cast-list.
A damn shame, but his early work is still very much worth seeing.
2002-06-24 13:45 | User Profile
Originally posted by il ragno@Jun 24 2002, 10:36 **In the decade since Oldman - IMO the best actor out there - came to Hollywood, he's slid down the graph from first-rate projects like GRACE & ROMEO IS BLEEDING to playing bog-standard villains in comic-book-drek like LOST IN SPACE & AIR FORCE ONE. Could never understand how such a great talent could be so utterly wasted by Hollywitz. Then came the brouhaha over THE CONTENDER, in which it was revealed Oldman has, if not rightist politics, certainly an antipathy to The Leftism Of Convenience that passes for politics in La La Land. That was the last time I've spotted his name in a cast-list.
A damn shame, but his early work is still very much worth seeing.**
His best work, IMO, was "Immortal Beloved."
The problem is he's been stuck with the Christopher Walken syndrome. He got so good at playing villains, everyone wants him to do that. It nailed Rutger Hauer, too, after "The Hitcher."
Best, P
2002-06-25 01:36 | User Profile
"Charley Varrick", Walter Matheau at his best, a bad (?) guy you really like. "Quest For Fire", five different languages used, and you didn't need any to "get it". "The Big Country" Chartlon Heston and Gregory Peck fighting over a lucky girl, great scenery and lots of action. "Lonely Are the Brave", an individualist takes on the government.
2002-06-25 07:30 | User Profile
Charley Varrick is terrific - Joe Don Baker is both amusing and menacing as Molly the Mob Enforcer, and that scene in which the smooth WASP banker refers to the jew investigating the robbery as a "bagel snapper" is a howler. The fellow who played the banker is very good. He also played Clint Eastwood's nemesis in The Outlaw Josey Wales. He had a commanding presence about him. Wish I could remember his name.
Gary Oldman is one fine actor, no doubt about it. I haven't seen many of his movies, but he was truly chilling as Dracula. His wife is trying to take him to the cleaners in their divorce. He claims she's damn nearly bankrupted him already with her spendthrift ways.
2002-06-25 07:40 | User Profile
NB, you're thinking of John Vernon, a Canadian actor who has played more authoritarian/corporate bad guys than just about anyone out there.
In addition to the films you cited, he's probably best known as Dean Wormser in ANIMAL HOUSE & the guy who (foolishly) double-crosses Lee Marvin in POINT BLANK.
2002-06-25 09:09 | User Profile
Oldham's a great actor. He nailed down a type of Irishman I grew up with, and I revert to after too many guinesses.
BTW, all the major incidents in that flick are true to life of the Westies. Including the scene where they were about to storm the pasta joint in lil' Italy.
No props for Ed Norton? :(
2002-06-25 21:19 | User Profile
Nice to see some of my favorite movies recognized here: Jeremiah Johnson Zulu Charley Varrick The Searchers The Outlaw Josey Wales (one of many good films based on an even better book- written by Forrest Carter and found [url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0899665616/qid=1025037540/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-2994369-9432947]here)[/url]
I'll throw out a couple that might be cause for discussion/disagreement:
Local Hero- The scenery alone is worth the trouble of overlooking Lancaster's politics and Peter Riegert's schnozz. A good early look at what global corporate greed might do, and perhaps a deserved indictment of the oil industry as well. I'd bet there are some Afghans out there who would trade places with these villagers about now. Lefty enviro slant? Well, maybe, but I'm finding myself somewhat in sympathy with that particular slant in view of the Halliburton approach to world domination...
Vanilla Sky- I don't care for Tom Cruise. Fortunately, I'm not supposed to like the guy he plays in this film, and he does the job here. I haven't seen any Hollyvitz product of late (haven't seen many at all lately) that tackles the questions brought up by Vanilla Sky. The ending is weak; but the moral center of this film is pretty solid. I think the Cameron Diaz character should be required viewing for any parent of small children- she's a believeably wise lunatic, and a chilling reminder for any guys who in their youth indulged in or observed the kind of behavior Cruise depicts here. Not top five, perhaps, but well worth seeing. Cameron Crowe is smart and interesting, and he has married the true babe of my younger days as well. The bastid.
2002-06-26 04:14 | User Profile
Originally posted by AntiYuppie@Jun 26 2002, 03:39 ** Talented actors from the theater or the independent film world tend to get drawn into Hollywood and squander their talent. Another recent example of this is David Thewlis, who went from great parts in interesting independent films to unwatchable Hollywood comedies and action movies. Even some of the real acting greats, men like Olivier and Burton, seemed to have wasted a lot of their talent on Hollywood dreck.**
Villains are the most demanding roles, too, which is why better actors are assigned them. Look at Anthony Hopkins. What role will he always be remembered for? Hannibal Lecter.
Unfortunately, mass marketing is the nature of the game, and that plays to the lowest common denominator. The better actors go along with it so they can trade cash-cow roles for permission to do higher quality films. Some times it works out, some times not.
Best, P
2002-06-26 08:56 | User Profile
What I find most stunning about Oldman is his ability to COMPLETELY submerge into the character. Watch four or five of his better films and you often can't even tell it's him!
BTW, somebody'd mentioned "Jew Burt Lancaster". He was not. His politics were left-of-center, but no more so than 95% of the movie industry. In many ways, he was about as honorable a man as you're going to find in that town. As one of the first actors to set up his own production company, he had a knack for consistently choosing good projects a cut above the usual Tinseltown fare; what hurt his performances was being a 'personality' actor in the Age Of Method. Like Gregory Peck or Chuck Heston or Kirk Douglas, Lancaster is always Lancaster, regardless of the character he played. Those were different times, however, when forceful personality made stars as much or more than acting talent. (Robert Morley was a bonafide, Old Vic-trained actor, yet audiences detested seeing the porcine queer onscreen in anything...until he settled into a clearly-defined personality 'type'. Bingo! 5000 commercials ensued, and Morley died a wealthy man,remembered the world over as 'the fat limey in the British Air commercials'.)
He was certainly the first star since Fairbanks Sr to have done all of his own stunts (in action films like THE CRIMSON PIRATE which were ALL stunts) and, if nothing else, deserves respect for being a key figure in the making of Visconti's THE LEOPARD, one of the great films of the 1960s
2002-06-26 09:16 | User Profile
BTW, somebody'd mentioned "Jew Burt Lancaster".
That was me. I thought he was a jew when I learned of his politics and because he was from Harlem, and I'd read that Harlem used to have a lot of jews as well as nigras. Plus, it was after I learned these things that I saw the repulsive Birdman of Alcatraz, so I thought "this jerk MUST be a jew".
Cameron Crowe is smart and interesting, and he has married the true babe of my younger days as well. The bastid.
I've always been more of an Ann Wilson aficionado myself - even now. The prettiest fat lady on earth.
:rolleyes:
2002-06-26 11:16 | User Profile
Further note on Lancaster: politics aside, his stunt-movies from the early 50s (FLAME & THE ARROW, CRIMSON PIRATE, TRAPEZE, HIS MAJESTY O'KEEFE, etc) are still very entertaining in the Errol Flynn mode and totally non-political. CRIMSON PIRATE in particular is non-stop stunts and action ; next time it's on TCMor AMC or whathaveyou, give it a look; it's hard not to like. His switch to more serious subject matter extended his career considerably: pure action heroes tend to have their vogue and fade out.
And I've yet to meet anybody who doesn't get a licentious little kick out of SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (where Burt lampoons Walter Winchell nicely, and gets to see just how low Tony Curtis will sink for a taste of power). Not a great movie, but great fun nevertheless.
2002-06-26 23:35 | User Profile
Originally posted by il ragno@Jun 26 2002, 00:56 **What I find most stunning about Oldman is his ability to COMPLETELY submerge into the character. Watch four or five of his better films and you often can't even tell it's him!
BTW, somebody'd mentioned "Jew Burt Lancaster". He was not. His politics were left-of-center, but no more so than 95% of the movie industry. In many ways, he was about as honorable a man as you're going to find in that town. As one of the first actors to set up his own production company, he had a knack for consistently choosing good projects a cut above the usual Tinseltown fare; what hurt his performances was being a 'personality' actor in the Age Of Method. Like Gregory Peck or Chuck Heston or Kirk Douglas, Lancaster is always Lancaster, regardless of the character he played. Those were different times, however, when forceful personality made stars as much or more than acting talent. (Robert Morley was a bonafide, Old Vic-trained actor, yet audiences detested seeing the porcine queer onscreen in anything...until he settled into a clearly-defined personality 'type'. Bingo! 5000 commercials ensued, and Morley died a wealthy man,remembered the world over as 'the fat limey in the British Air commercials'.)
He was certainly the first star since Fairbanks Sr to have done all of his own stunts (in action films like THE CRIMSON PIRATE which were ALL stunts) and, if nothing else, deserves respect for being a key figure in the making of Visconti's THE LEOPARD, one of the great films of the 1960s**
A nice cameo in Bertolucci's "1900", too!
2002-06-27 01:42 | User Profile
Damn tough distillation, Spidah. Here goes:
Kind Hearts and Coronets
8 1/2
Metropolis
Battleship Potemkin/Olympiad (tie)
Bringing up Baby
Dracula (Browning)
La Strada
The 39 Steps
The Informer
Seven Samurai
(Yeah, I know it's technically 11) ;)
2002-06-28 10:27 | User Profile
Originally posted by il ragno@Jun 20 2002, 09:25 So I thought it might be entertaining, possibly surprising and even revealing to see what some of you folks' Ten-Best lists might look like. (I haven't given mine sufficient thought yet, but in the words of WC Fields, "You go ahead and start without me.........I'll catch up with you.")
Should be revealing enough to know I have ten in several different *categories*, so just suffice it to say that I'm a believer in the adage "They don't make 'em like they used to."
(And man, did they ever make 'em back then...mm mm mm!)
2002-06-28 15:00 | User Profile
Originally posted by Mercuria@Jun 28 2002, 02:27 > Originally posted by il ragno@Jun 20 2002, 09:25 So I thought it might be entertaining, possibly surprising and even revealing to see what some of you folks' Ten-Best lists might look like. (I haven't given mine sufficient thought yet, but in the words of WC Fields, "You go ahead and start without me.........I'll catch up with you.")**
Should be revealing enough to know I have ten in several different categories, so just suffice it to say that I'm a believer in the adage "They don't make 'em like they used to."
(And man, did they ever make 'em back then...mm mm mm!)**
I'll bet that "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" makes your master list! B)
2002-06-28 16:11 | User Profile
Originally posted by Unexpurgated@Jun 28 2002, 07:00 > Originally posted by Mercuria@Jun 28 2002, 02:27 > Originally posted by il ragno@Jun 20 2002, 09:25 So I thought it might be entertaining, possibly surprising and even revealing to see what some of you folks' Ten-Best lists might look like. (I haven't given mine sufficient thought yet, but in the words of WC Fields, "You go ahead and start without me.........I'll catch up with you.")
Should be revealing enough to know I have ten in several different categories, so just suffice it to say that I'm a believer in the adage "They don't make 'em like they used to."
(And man, did they ever make 'em back then...mm mm mm!)**
I'll bet that "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" makes your master list! B)**
I would have to add to that list Andrei Tarkovsky's uncut 205-minute 1966 opus, "Andrei Rublev," a wonderful and realistic film about the experiences of that famed 14th century Russian Orthodox monk and icon painter as he traveled from his home monastery to a newly built cathedral in Moscow to paint frescoes. I just got the DVD last week, and was quite impressed.
One of the many memorable quotations in the film was when Rublev was conversing with another famed iconographer of the era, Theophanes the Greek, about Jesus. Rublev asked, "What would happen if Christ returned today?" and Theophanes replied, "The same thing that happened to him the last time he showed up."
Interestingly enough, Tarkovsky's assistant director, Andrei Konchalovsky, directed the 1985 US film "Runaway Train" starring Eric Roberts and Jon Voight. Tarkovsky (who died in 1986) also had directed the Russian version of Stanislaw Lem's superb science fiction novel, "Solaris."
2002-06-28 16:20 | User Profile
Originally posted by il ragno@Jun 24 2002, 23:40 **NB, you're thinking of John Vernon, a Canadian actor who has played more authoritarian/corporate bad guys than just about anyone out there.
In addition to the films you cited, he's probably best known as Dean Wormser in ANIMAL HOUSE & the guy who (foolishly) double-crosses Lee Marvin in POINT BLANK.**
Vernon was great as a crooked banker/mobster in "Charley Varrick." In fact, in the early 1960s, Vernon starred in a Canadian TV show called "Wojeck" which featured Vernon as big city medical examiner/private eye--from which the laughable "Quincy, ME" was all but copied from.
2002-06-28 20:34 | User Profile
Originally posted by MikeKr1@Jun 28 2002, 16:11 > Originally posted by Unexpurgated@Jun 28 2002, 07:00 > Originally posted by Mercuria@Jun 28 2002, 02:27 > Originally posted by il ragno@Jun 20 2002, 09:25 So I thought it might be entertaining, possibly surprising and even revealing to see what some of you folks' Ten-Best lists might look like. (I haven't given mine sufficient thought yet, but in the words of WC Fields, "You go ahead and start without me.........I'll catch up with you.")**
Should be revealing enough to know I have ten in several different categories, so just suffice it to say that I'm a believer in the adage "They don't make 'em like they used to."
(And man, did they ever make 'em back then...mm mm mm!)**
I'll bet that "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" makes your master list! B)**
I would have to add to that list Andrei Tarkovsky's uncut 205-minute 1966 opus, "Andrei Rublev," a wonderful and realistic film about the experiences of that famed 14th century Russian Orthodox monk and icon painter as he traveled from his home monastery to a newly built cathedral in Moscow to paint frescoes. I just got the DVD last week, and was quite impressed. **
It is a great movie. Hard to watch though because of its intense honesty. Sort of a film version of a Dostoevsky novel.
Best, P
2002-06-28 20:47 | User Profile
Originally posted by MikeKr1@Jun 28 2002, 16:11 ** Interestingly enough, Tarkovsky's assistant director, Andrei Konchalovsky, directed the 1985 US film "Runaway Train" starring Eric Roberts and Jon Voight. Tarkovsky (who died in 1986) also had directed the Russian version of Stanislaw Lem's superb science fiction novel, "Solaris."**
I saw a trailer for a remake of Solaris. It'll have George Clooney in it apparently.
I started to watch the original film some months back on TCM, but it was 1:00 am, and Russian films are not the thing to watch when it's late and you have a couple of beers. I got about as far as Burton's testimony and then had to nod off. I've been hunting it down ever since.
Best, P
2002-06-28 21:01 | User Profile
I started to watch the original film some months back on TCM...
As if New York wasn't already aggravating enough, it's next to impossible to get TCM here. I have to cajole my out-of-area friends to tape me selections from TCM's bill of fare.
About every six weeks I harangue Cablevision's affirmative-action customer service hires as to why they refuse to program cable's only worthwhile entertainment channel. I guess they prefer to save it for the major markets they service....
2002-06-28 21:04 | User Profile
Originally posted by il ragno@Jun 28 2002, 16:01 > I started to watch the original film some months back on TCM...**
As if New York wasn't already aggravating enough, it's next to impossible to get TCM here. I have to cajole my out-of-area friends to tape me selections from TCM's bill of fare.
About every six weeks I harangue Cablevision's affirmative-action customer service hires as to why they refuse to program cable's only worthwhile entertainment channel. I guess they prefer to save it for the major markets they service....**
Get a dish, IR.
2002-06-28 21:04 | User Profile
Originally posted by il ragno@Jun 28 2002, 21:01 > I started to watch the original film some months back on TCM...**
As if New York wasn't already aggravating enough, it's next to impossible to get TCM here. I have to cajole my out-of-area friends to tape me selections from TCM's bill of fare.**
It is an excellent movie channel. AMC's started running crap from the 80s and has pretty much ceded the older movies to TCM. Of course, TNT has that market covered pretty well, too.
Can you get sattelite instead? I know around here they have some packages that run about 30-40 a month. I think they have TCM.
Best, P
2002-06-28 21:27 | User Profile
Satellite's a pain in the posterior because of the location/domicile: private homeowners are neither fish nor fowl in a city of apartment-dwellers.
But hey, I've got a brick of taped-offa-TCM stuff landing tomw, so it could be worse. Am esp looking forward to the Harold Lloyd & Vittorio DeSica festivals. Goodness gracious, any network that shows silent & foreign films regularly, in 2002 America, is truly beyond criticism...
2002-06-28 22:43 | User Profile
I wish I had someone to tape stuff for me. I don't get the so-called "premium" channels, but I'd like to get TCM.
I'd also like to see certain quality White boxers on HBO & Showtime, like the upcoming Kiltschko-Mercer fight, but I'm damned if I'm giving those scum any wampum. So I'm stuck with lousy ESPN fights....
2002-06-28 22:47 | User Profile
Well, TCM is a 'basic' cable channel, whether or not y'get it's persuant on your local provider.
NB, I'd be glad to help you out - but I'm likewise screwed!
2002-06-28 22:53 | User Profile
Originally posted by Unexpurgated@Jun 28 2002, 08:00 I'll bet that "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" makes your master list! B)
Chick-flick musical heaven....fresh Kleenex box nearby...yes, it's on M.'s Top Ten Musicals. :rolleyes:
2002-06-28 23:03 | User Profile
Originally posted by Mercuria@Jun 28 2002, 17:53 > Originally posted by Unexpurgated@Jun 28 2002, 08:00 I'll bet that "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" makes your master list! ÃÂ B)**
Chick-flick musical heaven....fresh Kleenex box nearby...yes, it's on M.'s Top Ten Musicals. :rolleyes:**
I was beginning to wonder if we were gonna get around to musicals.
I'm always liked [u]Bye, bye Birdie[/u], and even played the Dad in my high school production of same.
You didn't know I was a singer, did ya'? :D ;)
2002-06-28 23:07 | User Profile
Have you seen [u]Moulin Rouge[/u] and if so, what was your impression?
I must admit I was impressed by the vocal performances of Scottish Ewan MacGregor. I find him humorous in general and a good actor. Not too crazy about Nicole Kidman, though.
2002-06-28 23:16 | User Profile
If you mean the one with Jose Ferrer walking around on his knees and drinking absinthe....I liked it a lot.
Haven't seen the new one. But it's by the guy who did the multiracial, MTV gangbanger version of ROMEO & JULIET, so I'm not exactly hangin' by my thumbs waiting for the video....
2002-06-29 02:07 | User Profile
Originally posted by Mercuria@Jun 28 2002, 14:53 > Originally posted by Unexpurgated@Jun 28 2002, 08:00 I'll bet that "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" makes your master list! ÃÂ B)**
Chick-flick musical heaven....fresh Kleenex box nearby...yes, it's on M.'s Top Ten Musicals. :rolleyes:**
:D :D
Not a bad guess, eh? Any lady with your class, Mensan IQ and sense of history usually includes that marvelous, operatic picture on her top-film list.
On this 100th birday anniversary of composer Richard Rodgers (yeah, I know) I'd like to include "Love Me Tonight" (1932) on my own list of favorite musicals...Rodgers & Hart were infinitely hipper than Richard and Hammerstein Jr.---and Chevalier & MacDonald had a chemistry that Nelson Eddy could never approach! <_< :lol: ;)
2002-06-29 10:16 | User Profile
Originally posted by Texas Dissident@Jun 28 2002, 16:03 **I'm always liked [u]Bye, bye Birdie[/u], and even played the Dad in my high school production of same.
You didn't know I was a singer, did ya'? :D ;)**
"KIDS...I dunno what's wrong with these kids today!!"
(Must've sounded like a hoot and a half to the grown-ups with that coming from a barely-squeaking past adolescence student...hehehe!!!)
2002-06-29 10:26 | User Profile
Originally posted by Unexpurgated@Jun 28 2002, 19:07 **Not a bad guess, eh? Any lady with your class, Mensan IQ and sense of history usually includes that marvelous, operatic picture on her top-film list.
**
Well, thanks! I appreciate the kind compliments...I don't consider myself classy and Mensa-ish, but sometimes a dollop of taste and a wee sense of style can pass for such. (Besides, I could have worse taste than to count Catherine Deneuve as someone I wouldn't mind looking like!)
On this 100th birday anniversary of composer Richard Rodgers (yeah, I know) I'd like to include "Love Me Tonight" (1932) on my own list of favorite musicals...Rodgers & Hart were infinitely hipper than Richard and Hammerstein Jr.---and Chevalier & MacDonald had a chemistry that Nelson Eddy could never approach! <_< :lol: ;)
And speaking of taste and style...who else but Chevalier could give such panache to ogling goils day in and day out? That guy could probably charm Patricia Ireland. (Although legend has it he was a notorious cheapskate.)
2002-06-29 10:30 | User Profile
A little list...Top Five Most Beautiful Actresses According To The Men Whom I Knew Well Enough To Disclose These Preferences To Me (alphabetical order):
2002-06-29 10:35 | User Profile
Ever notice the strange resemblance between 30s-era Chevalier & Will Rogers?
Nothing against either man. You just wouldn't normally expect to see a boulevardier and an Oklahoma cowboy mentioned in the same sentence. (Fact, I believe I just set the precedent on this one.)
I wonder if, when you see a movie in Paris, the ushers shake you down for spare francs for the Maurice Chevalier Foundation is all I'm sayin'. Hey, all I know is what I read in the papers...
2002-06-30 03:26 | User Profile
Hey, you can add MY VOYAGE TO ITALY to that list, Scorsese's documentary on Italian filmmaking in the neorealist era (you can also include the films he touches on IN this doc, of course). Like his other in depth film-history work, A PERSONAL JOURNEY THROUGH AMERICAN FILM, it is a work equal to the works he's celebrating. Stunning, powerfully moving, unforgettable....I just watched it tonight and I'm about to hit rewind and watch it again - and at four hours plus, I don't do that sort of thing very often!
2002-06-30 04:59 | User Profile
Originally posted by il ragno@Jun 29 2002, 19:26 Hey, you can add MY VOYAGE TO ITALY to that list, Scorsese's documentary on Italian filmmaking in the neorealist era (you can also include the films he touches on IN this doc, of course). Like his other in depth film-history work, A PERSONAL JOURNEY THROUGH AMERICAN FILM, it is a work equal to the works he's celebrating. Stunning, powerfully moving, unforgettable....I just watched it tonight and I'm about to hit rewind and watch it again - and at four hours plus, I don't do that sort of thing very often!
Hey, speaking of Italian pictures, Ronyo, (and I concur with your high estimation of Scorsese's documentary) what do you know about the 1943 Italian Fascisti production of Ayn Rand's "We The Living"?
The neolibertarians get laughably defensive when this film is mentioned... ;)
2002-06-30 05:02 | User Profile
Originally posted by il ragno@Jun 29 2002, 02:35 **Ever notice the strange resemblance between 30s-era Chevalier & Will Rogers?
Nothing against either man. You just wouldn't normally expect to see a boulevardier and an Oklahoma cowboy mentioned in the same sentence. (Fact, I believe I just set the precedent on this one.)
I wonder if, when you see a movie in Paris, the ushers shake you down for spare francs for the Maurice Chevalier Foundation is all I'm sayin'. Hey, all I know is what I read in the papers...**
Nah, just that early-30's, pre-code, ex-vaudevillian thing they both had going... :D
2002-06-30 05:56 | User Profile
**A little list...Top Five Most Beautiful Actresses According To The Men Whom I Knew Well Enough To Disclose These Preferences To Me (alphabetical order):
Doggone it, Mercuria! Will this madness never end??
N.B.'s Favorite Screen Beauties:
Felicity Kendal - More English stage & small screen than big; any red-blooded man who sees this adorable little lady in the '70's Britcom The Good Neighbors is guaranteed to fall in love.
Susan Hayward - Gorgeous, feisty redhead with creamy white skin and a little turned-up nose. Finger-lickin' good.
Shirley Jones - A lovely gal with a soft, girl-next-door quality that always made me wanna marry her. What she saw in the annoying jew "comedian" Marty Engels God only knows....
Claudette Colbert - Right up my alley. She kept her great beauty well into her eighties, too.
Elizabeth Taylor - A classic beauty. I normally like like my screen queens to be cute, or to have an underlying sweetness, and she has none of that; but in her case, I'll make an exception.
Grace Kelly - A real Ice Princess, but flawless features.
Jennifer Ehle - Played Elizabeth Bennett in A&E's superb Pride & Prejudice; anyone remember the close-up of her gazing forlornly into the mirror? A defibrilator scene if there ever was one.
Gretchen Mol - Saw her in The Magnificent Ambersons; "magnificent" is just the word to describe her. A baby-faced blonde.
Ann Baxter - Luminous in Angel on my Shoulder.
Jennifer Tilly - Quite attractive (if of an indeterminate race). The thing I really like about her is her little-girl voice.
2002-06-30 06:02 | User Profile
A while back, I was stunned to hear that the real name of one of my all-time favorite tough guys, Robert Mitchum, is Roberto Duran.
Please God, let this be indicative of Spanish ancestry - if it turns out that he was really just a particularly White-looking mestizo.....
2002-06-30 07:16 | User Profile
Originally posted by N.B. Forrest@Jun 29 2002, 23:02 A while back, I was stunned to hear that the real name of one of my all-time favorite tough guys, Robert Mitchum, is Roberto Duran.
Please God, let this be indicative of Spanish ancestry - if it turns out that he was really just a particularly White-looking mestizo.....**
...he would still be as good an actor!!
(With all due respect...you really should chill out once in a while.)
2002-06-30 12:10 | User Profile
NB: settle down, that's Robert Durman.
Unex: I know OF it, but -as with Visconti's OSSESSIONE, the problem with many Fascist-era Italian films is they never purchased the rights to the novels they were adapting (thus they are never mirror-faithful versions of the books) and the legal wrangling after the war kept these films out of circulation for decades afterwards. The most famous of these 'unofficial adaptations', NOSFERATU, managed to alter enough details to avoid such a fate; the Italian films did not. However, I seem to recall TCM having a print of it...so keep your fingers crossed.
Claudette Colbert had - Mercuria, please pardon this bit of male piggishness - an absolutely phenomenal body. RRRrrowwf!! Alas, the Production Code 'matronized' her far too early (though Preston Sturges gave her back her considerable ooomph in THE PALM BEACH STORY).
2002-07-01 11:14 | User Profile
Originally posted by il ragno@Jun 30 2002, 12:10 NB: settle down, that's Robert Durman. Besides which...why the reflex-flinch at a Spanish surname? There's a little-country in Europe called Spain, y'know....not every Vega and Gomez is an Aztec illegal.
**
Thank you for the geography lesson. Apparently you overlooked it when I wrote <i>"let this be indicative of</i> **Spanish** <i>ancestry"</i>.
2002-07-01 14:45 | User Profile
I did....as you misread "Robert Durman" into "Roberto Duran". However, as I DID misread your comments, I've removed that Spain crack from my original reply. Fair is fair.
But you shoulda known better just by watching "Thunder Road", NB!
2002-07-01 16:57 | User Profile
Roberto Duran? El Panamanian "Manos de Piedras" ??
Great fighter, but I'll still take Sugar Ray.
2002-07-01 17:33 | User Profile
Falling Down The X-Files The Saint Bridge on the River Kwai Hunt for Red October The Jackal The Man with the Golden Gun Total Recall Star Wars, especially the new "prequels" TPM and AOC Star Trek, any of the films -- people have expressed surprise to me over that one, given my political orientation and the fact that those films are basically a multiculti/socialist's dream of the future. My response is that unlike many of the Lefties, I can tell the difference between fact and fiction, fantasy and reality, and possibility and impossibility. ;)
With most modern movies, there's inevitably going to be some Leftie propaganda in them for all the obvious reasons. I just ignore it and tune it out so I can enjoy what's left of the story....
2002-07-01 17:43 | User Profile
I'll put in a plug for any film written by David Mamet. Although sometimes he can get a bit wordy, the dialogue is usually intelligent with the occasional outrageous punch line. Witness some of the off-hand comments in the recent [u]The Heist[/u] with Gene Hackman. "Cute as a Chinese baby" is one such example.
2002-07-01 18:18 | User Profile
Originally posted by Texas Dissident@Jul 1 2002, 17:43 I'll put in a plug for any film written by David Mamet.
I'll second that. The Winslow Boy, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Edge, and The Spanish Prisoner are all 100% GREAT movies. Also for a f**king disturbing view of the psychological terror wrought by modern political correctness I highly highly recommend a movie he made called [url=http://us.imdb.com/Title?0110722]Oleanna[/url]. In fact I'm sorry I didn't include it in my top 10. See it.
2002-07-01 18:28 | User Profile
Thanks, Feric. I'll try to check that one out as I've never seen or heard of it.
I watched a disturbing and creepy Austrian movie the other night on IFC called [u]Funny Games[/u]. I would recommend it if one is fan of the psychological terror genre.
2002-07-01 18:54 | User Profile
Leave us not forget House of Games & Things Change.
Is there a politician in today's America who doesn't owe a debt of gratitude to Joe Mantegna's House of Games character?
And Don Ameche's work in Things Change earned him the Oscar he never deserved for Cocoon.
2002-07-01 19:21 | User Profile
Mantegna was also good in Things Change.
2002-07-01 23:07 | User Profile
Originally posted by il ragno@Jun 30 2002, 05:10 Claudette Colbert had - Mercuria, please pardon this bit of male piggishness - an absolutely phenomenal body. RRRrrowwf!!
Piggishness? Never thought guys were blind to begin with. They never gave any evidence of being that way, in any case. Hehe.
Only difference between you and me...you discuss it on public message boards, I discuss it in the Ladies Conference Room with my mates. g
This is not to say I condone crude and vulgar public displays of appreciation...however, those who decide to act like cartoon versions of wolves when flashed a photo of a pin-up do make me laugh.
Just a warning.
[img]http://sassy-mercuria.freeyellow.com/biggrin.gif[/img]
2002-07-02 04:54 | User Profile
I'm new here but I'm gonna throw it in anyway, in case a tally's made.
My lifetime ('56-->):
The Godfather I & II The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Day of the Jackal
Before my time:
Too many to list.
Damsels?
Grace Kelly Ann Margret
I hope y'all don't mind if I join you. B)
2002-07-02 07:02 | User Profile
Well, Ruffin, I'm always happy to see a fan of Tuco, Blondie & Angel Eyes. Welcome.
Mercuria: To be frank - though I have every beast's appreciation for beauty - I usually have a soft spot for actresses who ...I'm not gonna say "don't project sexuality", so let's go with "downshift allure for other qualities." I ogle-watch a Hayworth or a Lake, but I don't love em like I do a Stanwyck, a Jean Arthur, a Margaret Sullavan. Now there are three fundamentally different types of actresses who -despite being quite nice to look at - project real, lived-in personas. Another actress who puts out ZERO babe-vibes is Janet Gaynor in the first STAR IS BORN yet she's so sincere and vulnerable...how could you not love her? The scene where her grandmother gives her the money to go chase her dreams of Hollywood stardom is unbelievably affecting. Now this is not to say that you can't have both knockout oomph & that sort of direct connection with your audience but it's rare. The template for all the versions of A STAR IS BORN - 1932's WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD - is the only version with a drop-dead honey in the role, Constance Bennett, and she's even better than Janet Gaynor.
2002-07-02 07:11 | User Profile
Yeah, welcome, Ruffin!
Say, Spider--since you're a fan of both Ameche and Colbert, is it safe to guess that seem 'em at work together in "Midnight"? A terrific picture with a perfect script...one of Jack Barrymore's few later movies when he wasn't suicidally self-parodying.
Notice you list "Trouble in Paradise" as one of your 10. It's my favorite Lubitsch. And speaking of magnetic, subdued sexuality, how about Kay Francis in the pic? ;)
2002-07-02 07:20 | User Profile
Notice that the "Godfather" fans aren't listing "Part III". I wonder if a Moe Green or Hyman Roth could make it to the screen today?
2002-07-02 14:35 | User Profile
Unex, Hyman Roth was SO dead-on accurate, he deserves his own thread! "Your father respected Hyman Roth....your father did business with Hyman Roth...but your father never trusted Hyman Roth!....Cheech! La porta!"
Kay Fwancis....absowutewy wavishing, wasn't she? Co-let!...Co-let!...Co-let and com-pa-nee! And how great are Charlie Ruggles & Edw Everett Horton in this? "See here, you. You keep saying 'goodbye' and hanging around. I wish you'd say 'how do you do' and leave!"
And yup I do like MIDNIGHT an awful lot, though I can't rate it up there with primo Lubitsch or Sturges.
2002-07-02 20:22 | User Profile
Your father respected Hyman Roth....your father did business with Hyman Roth...but your father never trusted Hyman Roth!....Cheech! La porta!"
Haha. One of my all-time favorite lines, that. The guy who played Frankie Five Angels was absolutely brilliant, and hilarious as well:
"...and da waiter gave me a Ritz cracker! He called it "canapes". A can of peas?"
Somebody mentioned Gene Hackman. A very fine actor. I loved him in The French Connection & The Conversation.
2002-07-02 23:21 | User Profile
Yes indeed. The sadly overlooked but always engaging Michael Gazzo.
Hackman is, as well, one of our best. He's an actor I like to play mind games with, ie, imagine Hackman in a movie made by a John Ford or a William Wellman in their prime. Say, in the Ward Bond role in THE SEARCHERS, or the Henry Fonda role in THE OX BOW INCIDENT. Not that Fonda or the great Ward Bond weren't terrific in the roles, but still...it's nice to imagine.
2002-07-04 01:19 | User Profile
I saw The Boys From Brazil again on AMC yesterday. I love this movie in spite of the jew Holocost agitprop. Gregory Peck is just great as Dr. Mengele - those scenes at the house of Lil' Adolf's Doberman-breeder daddy are are unintentionally hilarious: "I dunno about Jews 'n' Nazis - it's the niggers we gotta worry about..."; "Did you kill him?" "Nooo - he's in the kitchen mixing us cocktails..." And the fight scene always makes me howl.
Another of my favorites is the rotund English half-fruit Charles Laughton.
2002-07-04 03:10 | User Profile
Originally posted by N.B. Forrest@Jul 4 2002, 01:19 I saw The Boys From Brazil again on AMC yesterday. I love this movie in spite of the jew Holocost agitprop. Gregory Peck is just great as Dr. Mengele - those scenes at the house of Lil' Adolf's Doberman-breeder daddy are are unintentionally hilarious: "I dunno about Jews 'n' Nazis - it's the niggers we gotta worry about..."; "Did you kill him?" "Nooo - he's in the kitchen mixing us cocktails..." And the fight scene always makes me howl.
Another of my favorites is the rotund English half-fruit Charles Laughton.**
NBF,
The Boys from Brazil is hilarious! I noticed while watching that the two young Jewish radicals in that movie both had those curly "Afro" type haircuts like Morris Dees has. :)
2002-07-05 05:52 | User Profile
Originally posted by PaleoconAvatar@Jul 4 2002, 03:10 **NBF,
The Boys from Brazil is hilarious! I noticed while watching that the two young Jewish radicals in that movie both had those curly "Afro" type haircuts like Morris Dees has. :)**
Hehe - yeah, a couple of kinky jewboys. Notice also the rather slick way they make Olivier's Ezra Lieberman a voice of reason & moderation as compared to the "young fanatics" who want to kill those poor Lil' Adolfs before they can grow up and tweak Hymie's hooked snout again.
What a laugh.
:lol:
2002-07-11 17:43 | User Profile
Hate to turn this thread into a recommendation list, but I will anyway. :rolleyes:
I watched an excellent Dutch film on IFC the other night titled Karakter, or Character in Ingles. Check it out if you get the chance.
2002-11-06 20:46 | User Profile
I'd always put Riefenstahl's Olympia in a list of the top films ever made - there is nothing ever remotely like it in film history and it vaporizes virtually everything ever made in Hollywood in comparison. Olympia is true Aryan art- the purity and nobility are overwhelming and it is so beautiful! It gives the total lie to National Socialist racialism as hawked in the Jew media - find any Hollywood (Jew) film that is as free of idiotic stereotypes or as genuinely respectful of other peoples as this one. You can't.
Murnau's Faust is another really great German film - fiction this time of course - but with many of the same Aryan characteristics - paricularly the nobility and beauty. The girl who plays Gretchen, whose first film it was (Camilla Horn) is staggeringly beautiful too.
Ford's The Searchers... maybe Borzage's Seventh Heaven Visconti's The Leopard or maybe Senso Renoir's Rules of the Game
There are an awful lot of really good movies - almost enough to justify the whore house that Hollywood is. :D
2002-11-06 21:09 | User Profile
Braveheart Last of the Mohicans Legend Exorcist The Messenger
The best movies I've seen recently are Lord of the Rings, and The Ring.
2002-11-06 21:41 | User Profile
[img]http://www.user.tu-berlin.de/bori0930/film/aguirre/aguirre1.jpg[/img]
2002-11-07 10:15 | User Profile
Some of my favorites are- Mutiny on the Bounty (1935 version) Captain Blood The Cincinnati Kid The Godfather 1 and 2 Apocalypse Now Creepshow
2002-11-07 13:45 | User Profile
Aw, come on. There are no westerns on your list.
I watched The Naked Spur (James Stewart 1953) Tuesday on either Turner or The Movie Channel. Enjoyed it greatly so I decided to do a google search on it. I was very much surprised to find that "some" consider it the greatest western ever made. Anthony Mann was the director. He also did Winchester 73 and The Man from Laredo with the aryan prototype Stewart.
2002-11-07 13:54 | User Profile
**Penn, and anyone else, if you loved Aguirre:Wrath of God, or just interested in the Spanish Conquest, then check this movie out. It's a mind blower. ** [img]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/6302859123.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/img]
2002-11-07 14:02 | User Profile
I've never seen Wrath of God.
Is it better that Wrath of Khan which has the immortal line "I've done worse than kill you......I've hurt you".
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Watched Star Trek IV last night. Loved it when Kirk is touring marine world with Spock and Spock jumps into the tank and does a Vulcan mind meld with the whale.
2002-11-07 16:42 | User Profile
NAKED SPUR is a gem. Robt Ryan veers very close to overdoing it - but stays on the right side of the divide throughout. These Mann-Stewart Westerns were the first glimpses of Stewart's real acting range...they suggested a dark side that Hitchcock would later exploit fully in REAR WINDOW & VERTIGO.
Those who enjoy Mann/Stewart would like the lower-budgeted but equally-riveting Budd Boetticher-Randolph Scott Westerns from later in the decade (THE TALL T, RIDE LONESOME, BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE, SEVEN MEN FROM NOW, etc). And any list of Great Westerns has to include Peckinpah's RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY and THE WILD BUNCH.
I'd rate John Ford above Mann & Boetticher, of course, but for too many people the only Western directors are Ford & Leone, so it's nice to see some of the others get a little appreciation.
And AGUIRRE, to me, is an Incan Blair Witch Project meets Apocalypse Now. A kinda sorta horror movie that always creeps me out.
2002-11-07 22:52 | User Profile
Naked Spur is my favorite of the Mann westerns. It's so tight - just 5 characters (and some dead indians in one scene) in the entire picture. Really great location photography and Janet Leigh is lucious!
I like Boetticher a lot too - Tall T in particular, but the last scope ones (Ride Lonesome? can't remember their names) are real good too.
Don't like Penkinpah at all though.
Do you have a favorite Ford western? Sometimes I pretend I'm in heaven and posted to Fort Apache :D
2002-11-07 23:38 | User Profile
John Ford? Oh, man, where do I start? First of all he did so much great work in so many genres [HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, THEY WERE EXPENDABLE, THE LOST PATROL, THE LONG VOYAGE HOME, THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING, YOUNG MR LINCOLN, THE HURRICANE, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, to name a few of his classics, and nary a Stetson in any of them].
What he brought to the Western, though, that nobody else has come close to - in a Ford Western, everything...the conflicts, the drama, the people and their nature....all of it springs from the locations. And the way he visually tells the story, you're always aware of this: the terrain, the land beneath the characters' feet & surrounding them is as much a protagonist in MY DARLING CLEMENTINE or THE SEARCHERS as Wyatt Earp or Ethan Edwards. The terrain made them who they are; they're inseperable from the land. There have been a lot of pretty location-shot Westerns since, but nobody used locations to craft myth out of like Ford did. It's hard to pick one, so I'll have to cheat and say THE GRAPES OF WRATH is my favorite Ford overall. It's an amazing accomplishment for any year, let alone 1940, and as beautifully shot as it is acted. There are so many scenes in it that haunt you later : Fonda & John Carradine find John Qualen hiding in the long-shuttered Joad farm at night; the family stopping by a diner to spend ten cents on food; their first night upon arriving in the 'promised land'; Jane Darwell fantasizing of wearing finery using a pane of dirty glass as a mirror...so many of them.
Can't understand a Western fan not warming up to those two Peckinpahs, though. Even if THE WILD BUNCH is too gory for you, HIGH COUNTRY is worth seeing: a deeply-felt elegy for the vanished West that never puts a foot wrong. Give it a chance.
2002-11-08 00:34 | User Profile
It is not the gore - Paul Verhoeven is my favorite living director (after Leni Riefenstahl - but that's different) - and his movies have about as much gore as possible (OK, Hollow Man sucked - but it wasn't really his fault). I don't like those slow motion bullet ballets in Pechkinpah, I guess. And old farts sitting around complaining cuz the world has changed. It sounds like the Jews (or me). Anyway, it's OK to not agree on everything (I hope). I do like all the other things you like and very much too! The only Leone I really like is Good, Bad and Ulgy...that is really a blast....The others all have good stuff, but not perfect the way that is. Just what Eli Wallach calls Eastwood ("Blondie") has me rolling around on the ground laughting. It's a real good time.
Regards
2002-11-08 09:46 | User Profile
One Western I would add is Westworld, although it's more like science fiction.
2003-05-25 04:26 | User Profile
In no particular order:
1) Excaliber 2) Outlaw Josey Wales 3) Gallipoli 4) 13th Warrior 5) Braveheart 6) Gladiator 7) Lord of the Rings 8) Starship Troopers 9) Terminator 10) Last of the Mohicans
2003-05-25 05:12 | User Profile
My favorite movies are:
Brother.
Brother II. (both available with English subtitles from any major library).
Even though the lead actor (Sergey Bodrov) is 1/4 Manchurian, there is a clear Russian nationalist theme Running through both movies.
I also like Stalingrad (German), and of course, Braveheart.
2003-05-25 16:05 | User Profile
If you liked Jeremiah Johnson you will love the book it is made from Crow Killer: the Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson. There is a grainy photo of the original mountain man on back cover of the book, and man is he one tough looking hombre. It is a great read. One of my all time favorite books.
2003-06-02 06:08 | User Profile
[SIZE=3][color=green]Jimmy Stewart[/color][/SIZE]
"NAKED SPUR is a gem. Robt Ryan veers very close to overdoing it - but stays on the right side of the divide throughout. These Mann-Stewart Westerns were the first glimpses of Stewart's real acting range..."
[img]http://www.reel.com/content/boxart/vhs/5704.GIF[/img]
I consider Jimmy Stewart the best movie actor that America ever produced. His acting range was remarkable, being capable of playing anything from comedy to dark drama with utter believability. Stewart was so good that even his westerns were better than John Wayne's - better written, better acted, and far more realistic overall. That the Duke's westerns are held up as "the" cowboy movies to beat all cowboy movies is only because he made so many of them, whereas westerns for Stewart were only a small part of his far more panaramic acting career.
That said, here are my ten best films of all time, not listed necessarily in order of preference:
1: "Citizen Kane" - Orson Welles 2: "Gone With The Wind" - Clark Gable 3: "Dr. Zhivago" - Omar Sharif 4: "The Flight of the Phoenix" - James Stewart 5: "War of the Worlds" - Gene Barry 6: "The Innocents" - Deborah Kerr 7: "Patton" - George C. Scott 8: "Broken Arrow" - James Stewart 9: "Sleuth" - Laurence Olivier 10: "Rear Window" - James Stewart
Tom
2003-06-02 13:18 | User Profile
In no particular order:
Walter
2003-08-07 13:58 | User Profile
Hello all, For all of you who understand German, I would like to emphatically recommend the following movies. They're not easy to get, but what a treat when you do!
--Kolberg (in color 1944, a monumental epic. With beautiful Kristina Söderbaum) --Die Degenhardts.(with Heinrich George) --Verrat an Deutschland.(1954, the story of jewish/russian spy Dr Sorge and how it affected History) --Panzerkreuzer Sebastopol. --Heimkehr.(1943 with Paula Wessely, one of the greatest actresses ever...extremely moving film about the hardships the ethnic Germans endured in Poland in 1939) --Eine kleine Sommermelodie. (Romantic story with great music, and a glimpse of Berlin life in 1943, with Curd Jürgens and beautiful Irene von Meyendorff) --Opfergang.(color, 1944) --Immensee.(color, 1943) --Die Drei von der Tankstelle (with beautiful Lilian Harvey. Great music).
Some movies are available on DVD from Amazon.de, but shipping from Europe is extremely expensive. If you want to get them in VHS, the best source is in California. the webpage is: [url=http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/empirefilm/]http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/empirefilm/[/url]
Cordially, Herbert.
2003-08-07 14:14 | User Profile
Oh, I forgot to mention a great recent German film, based on the true story of a Luftwaffe man who escapes on foot from a prison camp in Siberia trying to get back home to Munich. It is the best new movie I've seen in a while. The name of the movie is: "Soweit die Füsse tragen" or "As far as my feet will carry me"
2003-08-07 20:46 | User Profile
And the winner is... (cue drum roll)
Honorable mentions: Jeremiah Jones, Terminator, and Searchers.
(Note - some of the above were tied with equal votes so I used my casting vote as tallymaster to rank them in the order I liked them).
No real surprises in the above, but what happened to the following notable absentees that didn't rate a single mention?
Casablanca
Raging Bull
Butch Cassidy
High Noon
2003-08-07 21:35 | User Profile
hnorkus, Have you seen Schlussakkord (1935 I think) or Zu Neuen Ufern (1936...I think)? Both are really good - Zu Neuen Ufern was the German debut of Zarah Leander, who is awesome - gorgeous and really talented.